Erik Morales’ next bout confirmed for January 2012

By Francisco Salazar
Photo: Chris Cozzone

Newly-crowned world title holder Erik Morales will return to the ring in January, Golden Boy Promotions matchmaker Eric Gomez told Fightnews.com on Friday. There had been speculation of Morales possibly facing Floyd Mayweather in 2012, but Gomez put those rumors to rest with the announcement of Morales’ next fight. Gomez said that Morales will make a voluntary defense of the world title belt he won in September, stopping previously-unbeaten Pablo Cesar Cano at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, NV. Gomez also told Fightnews that Morales’ bout will take place somewhere in Mexico. “We don’t have an opponent yet for Erik or where the fight will take place,” said Gomez from Mexico City, where he was in town for Saul Alvarez’s fight against Kermit Cintron that took place on Saturday. “We’re still working with Televisa as they will dictate where and when the fight will take place.” All indications of Morales starting to train for the proposed bout in January were confirmed on his twitter page (@terrible100), tweeting on Sunday that he would take an approximately 50-minute run on Monday.